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There are some unappreciated factors at play in the Los Altos School District. Some of them will be explored in this series. Use the next arrow to cycle through the entire series.

#5

The Los Altos School District began in 1909. Throughout the 1950's the area grew more rapidly in population and numerous new schools were opened, mostly north of Foothill Expressway. The attendance areas for 2 of the 3 schools south of the expressway were quite large. The students at these schools were traveling much further to reach school than where the students going to school on the other side of the expressway. The district served many students from Mountain View and Los Altos Hills, with a much larger proportion from LAH than is the case today. Eventually there would only be one school left south of Foothill Expressway, as Eastbrook and Purissima would be closed and consolidated with other schools.

The Los Altos School District has closed several other schools mainly during the 1970's, by merging the students into an adjacent attendance area. This was done in order to deal with declining enrollment. It was perceived as too costly to continue to operate so many schools. Most of the closing took place in the 1970's The distribution of students in the table below is estimated but the total enrollment is based on published records.